The Needs of Two
by I'maChair5050
Summary: 1 year after the death of King Shadow, Ash Mongoose finds himself alone and depressed. That is until a couple of unexpected encounters with a certain pink haired hedgehog. As feelings between the two grow, a familiar threat returns. Will they make it through together or will they crash and burn? Sequel to "The Needs of the Many". Contains Violence, Foul Language and Lemons.
1. The Life of a War Hero

**Chapter 1: The Life of a War Hero**

"Chaos...SPEAR!"

Another useless plant pot exploded into smithereens.

As the sound of the explosion died down, Ash Mongoose just stood there in a solemn silence.

If it wasn't for the fact that he could control chaos energy, he could easily be mistaken for just a normal Mongoose.

But he wasn't. Ash Mongoose was no ordinary Mongoose. Beneath his conspicuous appearance, Ash Mongoose was a legendary war hero.

His rise to fame was one that a few people often frown upon. During the war with Robotnick, he had intentionally stepped up to create the assassin collective that would later become known as "The Red Devils". Eventually, the group took down the Dark Egg Legion, with Ash taking down the Death Egg all by himself. The group then finished their mission by harnessing the power of the Anarchy Beryl and eliminating the sorcerer Ixis Naugus. However, this victory came at a cost. After exposing himself to a large amount of Anarchy Energy, Ash's life was at risk. However, spurred on by the support from his friends, he left Knothole to find an answer to his problems. Eventually, a hidden monastery of Echidnas trained him to surpass his problems and establish a permanent link with the Chaos Emerald. However, when Ash returned two years later, King Shadow had taken control of the entire world and his one true love, Mina Mongoose, had moved on and started dating Tails. Regardless, Ash went on to defeat Shadow in one on one combat, but turned down the opportunity to take the throne himself.

That was only one year ago.

Not too long after that, Sonic The Hedgehog had resurfaced and eventually was crowned King of all Mobius, with Sally by his side. They got married soon after.

As for the Red Devils, they retained their legendary battling status, even after the group disbanded.

Despite this, however, Ash still kept the spirit of the group alive by working as a mercenary for the government.

Whenever the Mobian army was stuck in a jam, Ash would be called in to sort the problem out.

Whilst all the heroes of the Robotnick war had obtained legendary status, Ash was elevated above most of the others, solely because of his chaos powers.

Over the course of the one year, Ash had been invited to make countless public appearances on TV and radio. He'd even had a biography written about him. However, despite his new found fame and fortunes, he'd never been truly happy. For one reason: Mina wasn't there with him.

Of course, this didn't mean that other girls had taken attention to him. On events, he had often ended up having girls approach him left right and centre. These were the girls who were often wearing low cut tops and short shorts with a bare midriff. However, all of these girls wanted him because of either his wealth, his fame or his looks. Never for his personality, which is what Ash wanted girls to notice. It was with these things in mind that Ash had turned them all down.

Whilst he had seemed cheerful and charismatic whilst making public appearances, away from that, he was quiet and depressed. He didn't leave his house that often and when he did, it wasn't for very long.

After standing around for a short moment, Ash turned around and walked back inside, sitting down in on his couch with a small glass of wine.

It was slowly becoming night on the outskirts of Mobotropolis. Sooner or later, young people would come out looking for a good time. Often getting drunk and partying.

Ash had never been down with that. He'd always been the uptight, insecure type. He had also never been that good with large crowds, either.

Ash sighed before turning on his TV, hoping there was something good to watch.

After spending 10 minutes flicking through the channels, he deduced that there was nothing on.

He then got himself out of his sofa and moved to his bedroom.

It looked had managed to maintain its appearance over time. However, one notable difference was a medium sized note board on one of the walls. On it, Ash had pinned newspaper articles detailing the achievements of himself and his team. If there was one thing he could be proud of, it was how far he had come.

He sat on the end of his bed and took another sip of wine.

As he felt himself slowly become sleepy, he placed his wine glass on his desk nearby, laid back on the bed and shut his eyes.

He instantly felt more relaxed.

However, just as he was about to drift off to sleep, he was abruptly awoken by a knock at the door.

Grumpily, Ash got off his bed and marched over to the door.

However, he then realised something: No one ever knocked on his door at this time.

Cautiously, Ash looked through the peep hole.

A familiar face was on the other side.

Ash opened the door to find a familiar pink haired hedgehog, dressed in a short pink top, a short pink skirt and matching pink heeled boots that went up to her knees.

She had a pony tail in her hair and a small piercing in both ears.

Her cheeks were streaked with mascara, as if she'd been crying.

She had a wonky smile on her face.

This girl was Amelia Rose.

"Oh hey Amy" Ash said to her, all his anger at having his sleep interrupted disappearing. "What brings you here?"

"Why to..." she paused as she wobbled a bit, maintaining her wonky grin "...see you, Ashy" she slurred.

"Erm, Amy, are you drunk?"

"M-maybe a bit" she mumbled.

Ash thought for a moment.

"Err...would you like to come in?"

"Sssssure" She slurred out.

Amy began staggering into Ash's house, where she then proceeded to crash onto his couch.

"S'comfy" she muttered.

Ash looked at her. It was blatantly obvious to him that Amy had been drinking out of misery, but what kind of misery?

"I don't think it would be a good idea for you to have any more alcohol. Would you like some water?"

"Wha..? Oh right. Thanks!" She muttered, eyes half open.

Ash then went into his kitchen and began pouring Amy a glass of water, still trying to figure out what had been bothering her.

But then it hit him.

"How could I forget" Ash muttered to himself.

Sonic and Sally.

Amy had idolised Sonic since the first time they'd met. For years Amy had tried to get Sonic to be hers, but each time proved fruitless. However, she'd always had a chance, even if it was a miniscule one. Now though, Sonic and Sally were happily married, meaning that Amy had lost the only thing that really mattered to her. Because of that, she'd been reduced into this state.

Ash sighed.

"Poor thing" he muttered, drawing a comparison to when he discovered that Mina had moved on.

Quietly, he finished pouring the glass of water and went to give it to Amy.

He was surprised to find Amy standing in the doorway.

"Ash..." She cooed as she slowly made her way over to him, adding a sexy sway to her motion.

"Errr...Do you want your drink?" Ash asked, putting the drink out in front of her.

Clumsily, she pushed it away, nearly knocking it out of his hand.

"Okaay, is there anything you want?"

Amy stood in front of him, a faraway look in her eyes.

"This" she whispered to him.

Suddenly, she dropped her skirt, revealing her womanhood.

Shocked, Ash quickly covered his eyes.

"SWEET SOLARIS! I WASN'T EXPECTING THAT!" Ash yelled out.

"You...you don't want to?" Amy said sadly, the wonky smile from her face fading.

"Sorry, but I don't think that would be a good idea with your current state.

"Do you think I'm weird too?"

"Of course not. Well, no one is normal, anyway. If everyone was normal, we'd all be the same and that's boring".

The two stood in silence for a minute whilst Amy pulled up her skirt.

"Amy, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Well, let's sit down on the couch so I can ask you".

The two then left the kitchen and sat down on Ash's couch.

Ash sighed loudly.

"What's the matter, Amy? I can clearly tell that something has been bothering you".

Amy smiled and shook her head, still blatantly drunk.

"No. D-Don't be -_hic_- silly." She said.

"Is this about Sonic and Sally?" Ash asked softly

The smile on Amy's face suddenly disappeared.

"Knowing you, you were probably devastated when you heard the news that Sonic and Sally were getting married. You just wanted to be alongside Sonic, just wanted you and him to be together, but you never got that wish".

Amy looked increasingly sadder, with her bottom lip beginning to quiver.

Ash sighed again.

"Look, I'm sorry Amy. I can see I've hit a nerve".

Amy let out a loud sob as a tear began running down here face.

"Come here" Ash said, opening his arms.

Amy then embraced him hard as she began to cry loudly onto his shoulder.

"Why...why doesn't he want to be with me?" She choked out.

Ash couldn't fins answer for this and just kept rubbing Amy on the back, trying to comfort her.

"is it...cause I'm not...p-pretty?"

"God no. You're freaking gorgeous" Ash said to Amy softly. "Sonic just fails to realise what he misses out on sometimes".

It took some time for Amy to calm down, but when she did, it came to Ash quietly rubbing her back.

"You good now?"

Silence.

"Amy?"

Ash was greeted by a loud snoring sound.

Ash let out a quiet chuckle.

"I think it would be better if she stayed here for the night".

Scooping her up bridal style, Ash carried Amy upstairs to his bedroom, pulled back his sheets and put Amy down onto them.

As Ash pulled his sheets over her, he couldn't help but down Amy's figure and notice how much she'd changed since the defeat of Naugus.

He wiped the mascara off her cheeks with a tissue.

Using another tissue, he wrote a quick note to Amy, folding it up and placing it on a pillow next to her.

As he gazed at her for a short while, Ash then shook his head and began heading back downstairs.

"I need a girlfriend" he thought to himself.

He found himself lying on his couch, trying to get some more shut-eye.

"Too bad I'm no good at finding one" he continued thinking sadly.

* * *

As Amy woke up the following morning, she felt like she'd been hit over the head with a shovel.

As she sat up, rubbing her head, she looked round the room, at the walls, up at the ceiling and down to the dark blue bed sheets she was sleeping under.

She then realised something.

Her bed sheets weren't dark blue.

"Wh-Where am I?" Amy asked herself, worriedly.

As she began to get increasingly worried about her location, she noticed a folded up tissue lying on a pillow.

As she picked it up and unfolded it, she found a message written onto it.

It read:

_Hi Amy_

_If you're reading this, then you've woken up. In case you can't remember what happened last night, don't worry because you and I didn't get up to any...funny stuff. Anyway, you weren't yourself that night. Since you weren't in a good state to return home, I decided to let you stay in my bed for the night whilst I slept on the couch. Sorry if this all seems like a bit of a shock to you._

_Ash._

She blinked.

"Ash?" She thought to herself. "What made me want to visit him?"

Groggily, she hauled herself out of his bed and down the stairs.

Much to her surprise, she found Ash sitting in the middle of his living room, cross legged, eyes closed in a meditative state, with a strange green energy emitting from him.

Once Amy had grabbed a small snack from his fridge, she then sat down in front of him and observed him meditating.

As this went on, Amy began to notice how Ash had physically changed since the last time they'd seen each other three years ago.

She peered across to him arms and noticed the muscles that had formed due to his training.

She then looked down at his torso and noticed an outline of something underneath his shirt.

"Is that a six pack?" She thought to herself.

Ash raised an eyebrow and nodded.

"Did he just nod?" She thought to herself, confused. "Can he...No. He can't hear my thoughts. Can he?"

A small grin appeared on Ash's face as he nodded again.

He then opened his eyes.

"Good morning, sleepyhead" he said to Amy, leaping up.

"How...How did you know what I was thinking?" She asked as she followed him up, confused.

"Simple. I used my mind to amplify my chaos powers and read the brainwaves emitting from you. Anyway, feeling any better?"

"Well, my head still hurts a little from my hangover, but yeah, I feel much better thanks".

"That's good to hear".

Just then, Ash's phone went off. He reached over, answered it and put it up to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Ash Mongoose?" The voice on the other end of the line asked.

"Speaking"

"This is Captain Knuckles of the..."

"I know who you are, Knucklehead. Just tell me the problem already".

"I hate it when people call me that. Anyway, I've just received word from my men on the ground that there is a hostage situation currently taking place at the top of an apartment block on Cyclone Drive. Five heavily armed drug dealers have taken six of our men hostage and are threatening to start killing them if we don't meet their demands. Our snipers can't get a lock on them".

"I'm on my way" Ash replied before hanging up the phone. Then, he sprinted out of the living room and up the stairs, disappearing into his bedroom. When he re-emerged, he was dressed in his combat gear. Whilst this was the same attire he had whilst fighting with the other Red Devils, it had been altered since then. Whilst the red Devils attire was red and black, it was now all black. In his pocket, he had two customised warp rings.

Quickly, he switched on the telly and turned it to channel 3. On screen, was a tower block with misted up windows at the top. Below, the military were waiting at the bottom, trying to coax the hostage takers into surrendering.

"Right. I know where to go now. See you in a minute, Amy" Ash said to her before activating one of his warp rings and stepping through. as the ring disappeared, Amy's attention turned back to the screen.

"And as time wears on now, we are yet to see whether or not the men on the top floor will release the hostages" The news reporter said.

Just then, as a bright portal appeared on the ground, Ash Mongoose appeared.

"It's him! Ash Mongoose has arrived!" Declared the reporter.

Ash wasted no time in talking to the military and began walking towards the apartment block. Once he reached one of the sides, he unsheathed his blades and began to scale the side, using the blades to help him grip the side. Very soon, he was resting right underneath one of the top floor windows. Then, suddenly, he smashed through one of the windows and threw one of the drug dealers out of the window, where they were shot at by the military on the way down.

Ash then pulled himself up and leapt through the window. This was followed by intense gunfire and eventually, silence. Ash then reappeared at the window, giving a thumbs up to the guys on the ground. He then leapt out of the window and used his blades on the wall to slow him down before he reached the bottom. As the military moved in to secure the hostages, Ash activated the second warp ring and disappeared through it.

As another portal appeared in Ash's living room, Ash walked out through it, with the portal disappearing behind him.

"All five men dead. All six hostages still alive. Time taken: Just over one minute. How did that look from here?"

"That...Was...Amazing! How on Mobius did you manage to pull it off that quickly?"

"Years of training, Amy. You pick up different things now and again".

"Yeah. maybe. Anyway, I think I'd better be heading back now. Cream will probably be wondering where I've been".

"Yeah. Have a safe trip, now"

"Will do. Bye"

"Yeah. Bye"

As Amy walked out through the front door, Ash pondered. He was worried that she'd end up getting involved with the wrong type of people. Ash just shrugged this off.

"She's quite a smart woman. She knows who'll look out for her and who won't. Besides, she can handle herself in a fight. Who knows, maybe her and I will bump into each other again".


	2. Nightclub Fightclub

**Chapter 2: Nightclub Fightclub**

During the afternoon, Ash would usually be appearing on a chat show or a photoshoot. Not today, however. Since Ash had nothing happening today, he decided to just stay at home and be lazy. He decided to fulfil this objective for the day by sitting on his couch, eating toast and watching game shows.

The game show he happened to be watching a lot of was one of the classics: an often hapless contestant goes on the show and answers a series of questions to win a large pile of cash (**A/N: Think something along the lines of the Mobian Version of "Who wants to be a Millionaire?"**). There was no real reason he was watching the show. in fact, he often found it quite boring. The only reasons he was watching was because of who was hosting: Mighty the Armadillo. His old teammate and the most charismatic presenter on TV. Ever since the Red Devils had disbanded, Mighty had shifted from chat shows to reality shows and finally to game shows, where he had earned critical and public praise for his charm and charisma.

"Okay, onto the next question" he said to the contestant. "This time, you are playing for 5,000 mobums. The question is: The famed Red Devils assassin collective was set up by Ash Mongoose. To start with he recruited two others onto the team. One of these was Julie-Su. Who was the other? Was it A: Hershey the Cat, B: Miles "Tails" Prower, C: Espio the Chameleon or D: Yours truly, Mighty Armadillo?"

The contestant, a male fox in his late 30's, pondered this.

"Well, I know for a fact that Tails didn't join up, so he's out of the question. Plus, I also know you weren't one of the two, so you're out of the question".

Mighty shrugged at this. "You put that so rudely" he said jokingly, earning a small laugh from the crowd.

The contestant was left to choose between Hershey or Espio. After a short while of thinking and muttering to himself, he decided on an answer.

"I'm going to go with C: Espio."

"You sure about this?"

"Fairly. I did read the official history after all".

"Final answer?"

"C"

"Okay then. Computer, input C: Espio the Chameleon".

The answer was locked in.

"Now, as you know, I was on that team, so I know the answer. however, I'm not allowed to say anything else about it because then you'll know the answer" he added to the contestant. "Alright then. Computer is his answer right?"

There was a long pause for suspense as Mighty looked down at the small screen in front of him, showing him the right answer. He looked down at the screen and then back over at the contestant.

A grin slowly appeared on his face.

"ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!" He bellowed.

As a relieved smile appeared on the contestant's face, the crowd began cheering.

Just then, Ash's phone began ringing again.

With toast in one hand, he reached across, picked it up and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Ash, buddy! How are you doing?"

"Oh hey, Mighty. What's up?"

"Nothin' much. Just watching TV at the moment. You?"

"Watching reruns of your show. To be honest, you're the only real reason I watch it."

"Between you and me, that's the only reason I watch it as well. Well, that and being able to laugh at some of the dumber contestants".

"Anyway, is something happening? There's got to be a reason you called".

"Well, I've just been calling the other Devils and asked them if they wanted to head to Club Rouge tonight. Aside from Sally, they've all agreed. The one I have left to get a reply from is you. So what do you say?"

Ash sighed.

"Mighty, you know I've never been the kind of person who enjoys nightclubs. Besides, we'll be easily recognised there. We'll be constantly pestered"

"That's where you're wrong, Ashy boy. What we're going to do is go in disguise. We have have a great party tonight and then, just as we're about to leave, we can pull off our disguises and be all like "SHAZZAM, BITCHES!" So what say you now?"

"Sorry Mighty, it's still a "no" from me".

Ash took a bite of his toast.

"You know what I think, Ash?"

"Mmm?"

"I think you need to get laid"

Ash nearly choked on his toast.

"Excuse me?"

"You know, when a male and a female love each other very much, they-"

"I know how it works, Mighty. But why do you think I need to get laid?"

"Well, you're sounding incredibly grouchy. Kind of like a guy who hasn't had sex in years".

"Newsflash: I kind of haven't had sex in years. Three years, to be precise".

"But why? You're constantly getting showered with pretty ladies".

"Because they don't really seem to fit my taste much".

"You still need to get laid, though".

Ash sighed again.

"There's no persuading you, is there?"

"Nope".

"Alright fine, I'll go".

"Sweet! Remember, Club Rouge at 7:45. Come in disguise. Don't be late. See you there!"

_*Click*_

"What am I getting myself into?" Ash asked himself.

* * *

Whilst Ash was indeed reluctant to turn up, he decided to keep his promise to the team and turn up in disguise. For this occasion, he had taken the liberty of dying his hair white, slicking it back with hair gel and using red contact lenses to change his eye colour. His attire for the night consisted of a white shirt, a dark red jacket (which he was hoping would hide the holes in his arms), his chunky dark trainers and jeans. Finally, he adorned the back of his neck with a small ninja star tattoo, his hands with fingerless gloves and his face with a pair of sunglasses.

Ash stared at himself in the mirror.

"I look positively ridiculous" He said to himself. "But I kind of like it".

He decided not to make his friends wait any longer and began to head off the Club Rouge.

Thankfully, Club Rouge wasn't that far from where he lived, so he was there in no time at all.

Outside the club, a long line of people were waiting to try and persuade the doorman to let them in.

Standing next to the door, waiting for Ash, were the other Red Devils, dressed in equivalent disguises. Rouge was standing alongside them.

"Well, here he is. The man of the hour. How you doing, buddy?"

"Fine thanks" Ash replied. "You know, looking at everyone's disguise, whilst they do look out of character, at least they still look like they belong to their gender. However, Mighty appears to have taken it one step further and now looks like a freaking woman. I mean, come on. He's wearing skinny leather trousers, a low cut tank top and...are you wearing eye shadow?"

"Ash, darling, I think you'll find that my disguise is now almost fool-proof" Mighty replied.

"Maybe so, but you'll still have a whole bunch of really drunk guys hitting on you".

"I'm prepared for that".

Ash then pulled up the hood on his jacket.

"It's party time!" Rouge said to the others.

As the group stepped through the door, they were greeted by the traditional nightclub scene, strobe lights, loud party music and a packed dance floor.

Whilst the rest of the group immediately headed for the dance floor, Ash decided to do his own thing and head off to the bar in the corner.

"Couple of sour ones, please" he said to the bartender.

As the night wore on, Ash just sat there at the bar, drinking sour shots, whilst his friends were on the dance floor.

Ash sighed.

"I don't belong in this place" he muttered to himself.

He was about to get up and leave, but then, he felt the aura of a familiar person sitting down next to him.

As he looked over, he found an all-too familiar pink hedgehog sitting next to him.

Amy looked over at the Mongoose and smiled.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who doesn't really want to be here right now". She said.

Ash grinned.

"Yeah. I suppose not. I guess your friends dragged you here as well".

"Pretty much. I told Rouge that I wanted to have a night all by myself, but she was having none of it, so here I am".

Ash then looked back at her to see her staring long and hard at him.

"Have I seen you before, somewhere?" She asked.

"Wow. This disguise is better than I thought" Ash thought to himself.

"Maybe" He replied.

Amy then grinned.

"Is that you, Ash?" She asked.

"Guilty as charged" He replied, grinning. "You won't tell anyone, will you?"

"Don't worry, my lips are sealed. So who dragged you here?"

"Take a guess" Ash replied, pointing towards the dance floor where the others were dancing like there was no tomorrow.

"Is that Mighty? He looks like a woman".

"That's what I said. Plus, I could've sworn he was wearing eye shadow as well".

For the next few minutes, the two were chatting as if they'd been friends since their childhood. They found out each others personal interests, pastimes and likes and dislikes. They actually found that they had more in common than previously believed.

"Hey, I need to go to the loo. Be back in a minute" Amy said to him before getting up and heading off towards the female toilets.

As Ash watched her, he couldn't help but remember the last time they'd met.

"She certainly seems much happier" He thought.

Ash continued to sit at the bar and drink. Despite the heavy amount of alcohol he began to consume, he wasn't even feeling slightly drunk, mainly thanks to the incredible fitness level he'd reached through training, allowing him to process alcoholic beverages much faster and more efficiently.

However, as he continued to drink, he heard a faint sound over the loud music. It might have been anything. But to Ash, it sounded like a fight was going on.

As he looked over his shoulder, his suspicions were confirmed. Near the edge of the dancefloor, closest to him, there was a small fight breaking out. Eight guys were all trying to wrestle this one girl to the ground. The female was managing to just about hold her own, but they just kept coming.

Ash then realised that the female in question was none other than Amy.

A small crowd began to form around the fight. They onlookers didn't egg the guys on or bother to help Amy. They just stood there, watching. Ash's friends were on the far side of the dance floor, blissfully unaware of what was happening.

Amy then looked up at Ash with an expression that said "I could use some help over here!"

With that, Ash leapt into action. He leapt off his barstool and into the air, grabbing hold of his glass and hurling it towards the guys, striking one of them in the face.

As Ash clambered over the railings and dropped down right in front of the guys, they backed off slightly, sizing him up.

"Thanks for that" Amy said to him, picking herself up. "Those bastards were trying to take advantage of me".

"Good to see you're still in one piece" He replied. "You still up for a fight?"

"After what those idiots were trying to do to me? Easily".

The two sides then charged at each other, with five of the guys splitting off to take on Ash and the other three trying to take down Amy.

Thankfully for her, she was having a much easier time taking on the three.

As the fight went on, people still stood there, watching. Security was trying to get through the crowd, but to no avail.

Mighty and the others had finally become aware about what was going on and had also joined the crowd, trying to squeeze through and break up the fight.

Very soon, Amy had rendered two of the three guys unconscious, whilst Ash was facing off against two more.

As one of them tried to land another hit on Ash's head, The mongoose replied by grabbing his fist before landing a high kick to the head, rendering him unconscious.

However, he didn't notice the guy behind him pull out a knife.

As he rounded on the guy, he threw an almighty punch at his face. However, the guy just about managed to catch the punch before pulling out his knife and plunging it into Ash's chest, narrowly missing his heart.

It was at this point that the shocked crowd finally reacted. As Ash fell to his knees, clutching his heavily bleeding chest, the crowd gathered round him to help him.

The guy who stabbed Ash realised just what he'd done and began to make a break for it. However, Ash noticed this and launched a burst of chaos energy at his feet, incapacitating him.

Then, as Amy knocked the final guy out with a blow to the guts, she pushed her way through the crowd and found Ash.

"Don't worry about me" Ash said to them, panting as he clutched his chest. "I can stimulate my chaos energies into healing my injury. That being said, I'll still need medical attention before I bleed out".

Finally, Mighty and the others managed to force their way through the crowd.

"Ash! What happened?" Asked Hershey.

"Some punks were trying to take advantage of Amy, so I went down there to help her". He replied. "One of those punks went and pulled a blade on me".

"Don't worry. Rouge saw what happens. She'll be back soon and we'll get you to A&E".

"Sweet. Thanks".

* * *

Thankfully for the Mongoose, the medical service swiftly arrived and Ash was soon shifted into A&E. Despite his heavy injury, he told the surgeons not to worry too much about it, as his chaos powers would heal them. However, this failed to stop them doing a full operation on his wound. Whilst he had lost a lot of blood, the operation was a complete success, with Ash left with a big scar where his wound had been. They also needed him to stay overnight so they could make sure he'd make a smooth recovery, despite his protests.

After news had spread about what had happened, the media soon flocked to the hospital, all crowding around the door of Ash's own private room, waiting for him to emerge.

Mighty and the others had travelled with him to the hospital, but were constantly getting swarmed out by the paparazzi.

Even once they'd squeezed through the horde of paparazzi, they were stuck at the door, as one of the male doctors was preventing access.

"Can you let us in please?" Amy asked him. "We want to see Ash".

"Sorry, but I can't allow anyone access to Mr Mongoose. He needs time to recover".

Ash heard this and rolled his eyes.

"With all due respect, doctor, I doubt Ash needs this much privacy at the moment. Sure, he's just been stabbed in the guts, but he has the power of chaos with him. It shouldn't take him too long to heal up. Can you just let us in please?" Espio asked.

"Sorry, but I still won't let you in".

Just then, the door opened slightly. Ash's hand then poked through the crack, with a heartbeat sensor attached to his wrist and 100 mobums in hand.

"100 mobums says you will" Ash said to the doctor.

"Deal" He replied almost instantly, taking the note and allowing Amy and the others through, shutting the door behind them. The hair on Ash's head had changed back into its regular style, as the hair gel had lost its strength. His bare chest was covered by his jacket.

"Damn doctors never listen to a thing I tell them" Ash said. "Firstly, I tell them that all I need is for them to stop the blood flow and let me heal the wound on its own. But then, they go and make a big fuss over it all and say I have to stay here, even though I'm perfectly fine now".

"Well, they still have to make sure of that". Bunnie replied.

"Yeah. I'm indeed thankful, but I doubt this is necessary" Ash replied, pointing to the blood drip attached to his other arm.

"Well, you did lose over two pints of blood"

"Good point".

Amy then stepped forward.

"I know I should've said this sooner, but thanks for helping me out back there. I couldn't have taken those guys on my own. Dumb robots are one thing, but hulking, testosterone-fuelled morons are something else".

"No problem, Ames." Ash replied. "I'm always prepared to help someone out if need be".

Their was a short silence that followed before Ash sighed.

"You guys want to see the scar, don't you?"

The others nodded their heads.

"Very well then".

Ash then unzipped his jacket and held it open, exposing his bare chest.

The others stared at the huge scar.

However, this wasn't what had caught Amy's attention. As her friends looked at the scar, she found herself slowly peering down Ash's chest and at his toned abs.

"I was right. He does have a six pack" She thought to herself.

As she continued looking, she began to blush slightly.

"Wow. He's...actually quite handsome"

Ash then zipped up his jacket.

"Well, seeing as I'm going to be here all night, they've given me a DVD player and a whole bunch of films. Fancy watching some?"

"Sure. Why not?"

With that, the group just sat down in front of the TV, put a DVD and watched films all night long.


	3. Looking for Love in a Hot Tub

**Chapter 3: Looking for love in a Hot Tub**

Ever since the incident at Club Rouge, the tabloids had never left Ash alone. All over the news, there were pictures of him staggering out of Club Rouge and into a waiting ambulance, flanked by his friends whilst he was clutching at his bleeding chest.

Despite his view never changing in the public eye (they'd actually begun to view him as more of a hero than before), the media still wanted to get the full story, even after Ash had stated he didn't want to discuss it any further. Every time he left his house, the paparazzi followed his every move. They even went so far as to camp out on his front lawn until Ash threatened to start killing them off. They'd never moved faster in their lives to get away.

A week after the Club Rouge incident, Ash found himself back at square one, once again. Watching TV and eating toast all by himself.

However, something was different this time. Something new. Something quite refreshing. Ever since the night at Club Rouge, there was one thing Ash had never actually forgotten: the time he spent with Amy. He didn't really know why, but something really stood out for him about that night.

"Maybe I'm actually falling in love all over again" Ash thought to himself.

He then shook this idea off.

"Oh, what would I know about falling in love? I've only ever been in love with one girl and now she's no longer with me. Besides, Amy would never go out with someone like me. She's a kind, caring individual, I'm a bloodthirsty, egotistical assassin. Even if she could see past that, there are probably guys who are much better than me at pretty much everything".

He sighed.

"Guess I'm just destined to be alone. Amy's still pretty, though"

* * *

At this exact moment in time, Amy was sitting on her couch, drinking a coffee.

She was busy thinking back about what had happened the last week, with Ash getting stabbed trying to help her out.

She didn't really know why, but she kept finding herself reminiscing back to the time they spent together with their friends in the hospital alongside Ash.

She then thought about Ash himself. How they'd been chatting away at the bar. How he'd leapt down at her hour of need. How he'd help her fight off those bastards and how he'd bravely held on as he was bleeding out.

Then there were his abs. To be honest, Amy had never seen a better set of abs on a male in her entire life.

Plus, he'd seemed pretty friendly when they'd met at Club Rouge.

Then Amy just shook these feeling off.

"Oh, he'd never be into someone like me. He probably gets showered by girls notably prettier than me and begging for his wang. In comparison to me, he might as well be a god".

Amy sighed.

"If only I had some sort of sign telling me what to do".

Then, as if on cue, her phone rang.

She answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey Amy. It's Rouge".

"Oh hey Rouge. What's up?"

"Nothing much. I just wanted to invite you to something Hershey and I are putting together".

"Oh? What are you two planning?"

"Well, I recently took delivery of a massive hot tub and a few packs of booze and the two of us were thinking of holding a special get together with some of our friends. Want to come join us?"

"I don't know" Amy said, unsure about what to do. "Especially after what happened the last time some of us got together for a good time".

"Hey, don't worry. It's just going to be us. We'll drink booze, have a laugh and play a few games. Besides, we're inviting your knight in shining armour as well".

Amy blushed at this comment, knowing she was talking about Ash.

"Look, just because you're inviting the guy who saved my ass back at Club Rouge doesn't mean I'm going to turn up. Besides, the guy might just be miles out of my league".

"We still know that you like him".

Amy sighed.

"There won't be any persuading you, will there?"

"Nope".

"Alright then, I'll go".

"Sweet! Remember, my place at 8:30. Don't be late"

Rouge hung up.

Back at her house, she and Hershey were trying to gather together as many people as possible.

Rouge turned to Hershey.

"Amy's coming"

"Sweet!" Hershey replied happily, giving Rouge a high five. "Now all we need to do is see if Ash wants to come round".

Rouge dialled in Ash's number and pressed the call button.

The phone rang.

Then, after a few moments of waiting, Ash answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Ash. Rouge here".

"Oh. Hi Rouge".

"Hey Ash, Hershey and I were wondering something".

"Oh? What were you two wondering?"

"Well, I recently picked up a massive hot tub and a few packs of beer. Hershey and I soon resolved to hold a little get together amongst our friends, partly to make up for what happened back at the Club. So, you going to be here for then? I know Amy is".

Ash sighed.

"Look, I'll admit I like Amy, but there's probably no way in hell that she'll say yes to going out with an egotistical twat like myself".

"She seems to like you".

"How do I know that you're not just saying that to tease me?"

"Look, if that's not going to make you want to go, then what about the team? Turn up for the team? Please? There'll be booze and snacks.

Ash sighed.

"Alright then, I like the sound of that. I'll be there".

"Yay! Thanks, Ash. Remember: 8:30 at my place".

She hung up as the two girls shared high fives.

"Right. Phase 1 complete. All we need to do now is find a way to make those two fall for each other".

"Wait for when they get here. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve for then".

* * *

Very soon, a few of the others arrived before stripping down to just their swimwear and jumping into the hot tub.

Not too long after, Amy knocked on Rouge's door.

"Amy! Lookin' good, girl" Rouge said to her as she opened the door.

"Thanks Rouge" she replied as she stepped inside.

Looking out the window, she noticed Hershey, Mighty, Espio, Bunnie, Antoine, Knuckles and Julie in the hot tub, drinking beer and laughing.

"Don't worry. Your boyfriend will be here soon" Rouge said teasingly to her, referring to Amy.

Amy groaned, rolling her eyes as she stripped down to her swimsuit.

"Ash isn't my boyfriend" She replied.

"No, but he might soon be"

"I highly doubt that"

"Oh, you'll see".

The two girls then headed out to their friends, where they then slipped into the hot tub.

"Hey guys" Amy said to her friends.

"Hey Amy" they replied.

"So anyone else coming, Rouge?" Julie-Su asked her.

"Well, Amy's soul mate should be here pretty soon"

The others couldn't help but chuckle at this as Amy blushed.

"Rouge..." Amy whined.

"What? It's no small knowledge that you like Ash. It was practically written all over your face when I saw you staring at his abs".

"Those were some nice abs, though"

"Yeah. Agreed".

Then, the group heard the doorbell ring again.

"I'll get it" Hershey said to the group, clambering out of the hot tub and heading inside.

The group waited for a short while to see who was there.

Then, finally, Hershey poked her head out the back door.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to, Mr Ash Mongoose" Hershey said to them, stepping aside as ash stepped through the door, wearing nothing but a pair of swimming trunks and sunglasses.

"Hi guys" he said to the group, slipping into the hot tub next to Amy.

At this point, Rouge couldn't help but teasingly wolf whistle.

"Well damn, skippy! If I didn't know any better, I'd say you've been working out more" Mighty said to Ash.

"Indeed I have" He replied, helping himself to a cold beer. However, instead of merely twisting it off, he simply placed the bottle top between his teeth and pulled, taking off the cap and amazing his friends.

As they continued chatting, having a laugh and drinking the odd beer, Amy couldn't help but notice just what Mighty was getting at. Between here and the last time she'd seen ash's muscles, they'd seemed to have grown noticeably bigger in size. Looking up at his chest, his scar had all but disappeared by this point, as if nothing had happened. Not just that, but Ash had also seemed to have grown to be a more sociable person, judging by the way he was chatting to her and the others, grinning and giving the odd laugh.

Just then, Espio had an idea.

"Hey guys, anyone up for a little game of truth or dare?"

Very quickly, the group were soon crowded around one edge of the hot tub as Ash placed down his empty beer bottle and gave it a spin.

They all hoped that they wouldn't get picked first.

Eventually, the bottle stopped spinning.

It was pointing at Knuckles.

"Okay, knuckles. Truth or dare?" Ash asked him.

Knuckles was feeling confident.

"Dare me, Ashy boy".

"Alright then. I'll be right back" he said to them, jumping out of the tub and heading back inside.

He soon re-emerged with something in his enclosed hand.

"I dare you to eat this without spitting it out" he said, opening his hand.

A small chilli pepper sat on his palm.

"A chilli pepper? Is that it?"

"Oh, this is not just any chilli pepper. This is one of my own home grown, extra strength Firestorm chilli peppers. Accelerated in both spice and growing time all thanks to my powers".

Then, without thinking twice, Knuckles took the chilli, stuffed it into his mouth and began to chew.

For the first couple of seconds, he was okay. However, he soon stopped chewing as the cool and collected look on his face changed to one of worry. He then began to sweat ferociously as his cheeks went as red as his hair. His face then contorted in pain as he began to flap his arms furiously as the spicyness of the chilli began to fully take effect, the echidna releasing muffled screams.

The others couldn't help but burst out laughing as the echidna leapt out of the tub and began running around, flapping his arms.

"That's just made mah day!" Bunnie exclaimed through her laughter.

"Oh, but it gets better" Ash told the others, leaping out of the tub and heading back inside again, before returning with a small, sealed plastic bag. Inside was a small mass of black powder.

Sneezing powder.

"Watch this" Ash said to the others as he took the sneezing powder out of the bag and placed it in a pile in one of his hands before walking up to Knuckles and blowing the powder at him.

Knuckles didn't react to this at first. But then, his nose finally got a sense for the powder. Then, suddenly, he released an almighty sneeze, releasing, much to the surprise of the others, a burst of flame from his mouth and nose.

Knuckles then ran back inside, went to the bathroom and stuck his head under the cold tap, causing the others to start laughing even harder.

Knuckles soon re-emerged from inside.

"Ash?"

"Yeah, Knux?"

"Fuck you"

"Love you too, buddy"

Knuckles then span the bottle.

Once it eventually finished spinning, it was pointing at Hershey.

"Hershey, truth or dare?"

"Errrr...Truth".

Knuckles immediately thought of the ultimate question.

"If you could have a lesbian four way with Rouge, Julie-Su and Bunnie, would you?"

As they started laughing, Antoine spluttered on his beer.

Hershey thought about this for a few moments before a sly grin appeared on her face.

"Maybe" She replied, causing some of the others to start giggling uncontrollably.

"Well, what are you waiting for, let's get this started right now" Rouge replied in a playful, seductive manner, shuffling up to Hershey and giving her a long, teasing lick to her neck, causing the others to go "Ooooooh!"

Once that was done, Hershey span the bottle once more.

This time, once it had stopped spinning, it was pointing directly at Amy.

"Amy, truth or dare" She asked her.

"Please pick dare. Please, oh please pick dare!" Rouge thought to herself.

Amy thought about this for a few moments before deciding.

"Dare"

As a mischievous grin appeared on Hershey's face, Amy was immediately regretting her decision.

"Hershey, no. I know what you're thinking. I'm not doing it!"

"Sorry, but you can't back out now. You. Seven minutes in heaven. She replied. "With Ash".

"Wait, what?" Ash asked.

"See you two in a few minutes" Hershey replied as the others all clambered out of the hot tub and headed inside, leaving Ash and Amy alone in the hot tub.

For a short while, there was silence between the two, broken only by the soft bubbling of the hot tub.

"Well this is...awkward" Ash said to the female hedgehog.

"You can say that again. To be honest, I really don't know why they're even trying. You're probably elbow deep in girls asking for you".

Ash gave a small chuckle.

"You really believe those rumours?"

Amy raised an eyebrow.

"You mean..."

"Yep. It's all bogus. Well, at least half of it is bogus. I do indeed get showered in sexual requests from girls. But you know what, I've personally turned down each and every one".

"Why?"

"Why? Well, because whilst their offers were indeed tempting, the girls who were asking for requests were possibly the most vapid and bland airheads I've ever met. To me, it was blatantly obvious that they either wanted me for my cash or my appearance and to me, that's not what matters the most."

"Well, what does matter most?"

"Personality, Miss Rose. To me, what's on the inside matters most. Looking good does help, though. Plus, the only time I'll have sex is with a significant other".

Inside, the others were peeking out the windows, waiting for them to, hopefully, kiss.

"Kiss, damn it! Just Kiss!" Rouge whispered.

Outside, Amy was thinking as she listened to Ash talking. She began to notice that Ash was indeed sincere with his words. She felt like they could properly relate to one another as they'd both loved and lost in the past.

"To be honest, Ash, it's actually easier for you to say these things than I. You've managed to obtain almost god-like status. I, however, am still considered to be Sonic's fangirl".

"That's not what I see. I see a brave, smart and beautiful young girl, unafraid to give up everything for a cause she believes in". Ash replied.

Amy blushed at this compliment. She soon realised that beneath the tough exterior of the mongoose lied a shy and sensitive gentleman.

Amy then reached over and slowly took off Ash's sunglasses, revealing his deep blue eyes.

"You really think that?" She asked him, putting her arms around him.

"Yeah. You're probably one of the most remarkable women I've ever met."

For what felt like an eternity, the two were left staring deeply into each others eyes.

Then, finally, the two slowly closed their eyes before leaning into each other and gently pressing their lips together, embracing.

As the two kissed, the others inside, cheered and applauded.

Rouge and Hershey fist bumped.

Back outside, the kiss between the two was slowly getting more intimate. Amy was now sat on Amy's lap, gently running her fingers through his black hair as their kisses became slowly more passionate. Ash, in the mean time, was gently running one hand gently through Amy's pink hair whilst running the other gently down her back, sending a shiver up her spine.

"I think we'd better get back into that tub before they get a bit wild" Rouge said to the others.

As the others headed back outside, they cheered and applauded the two.

Amy broke the kiss and looked over at the others.

"Hey guys" she said happily to them. "met my new boyfriend yet?"


End file.
